Power BI Connector vs Queued Exported CSVs

Nate Laning
Nate Laning
Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

I'm aware that there are many ways to pull data out of RE NXT and import it into Power BI, but focusing on only the Power BI Connector and using queue to export CSVs, I'm wondering what the pros and cons are for each? In other words, what end points have you found to be currently missing while using the Power BI Connector that would be accessible if you simply exported a CSV instead? Finally, is there anyone out there who uses both simultaneously for the same set of reports?

I'd love to hear what the community has found out, so I can make an informed decision. Thank you.

Comments

  • Kim Wolcott
    Kim Wolcott
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    I find the connector to be very limited. Its ok for basic gift or constituent data but if you need any additional info like attributes or proposal info, its not there. I just export, which is a pain, because I don't have Queue. We rely heavily on Proposal Attributes, NXT is just not there yet.

  • Mark Palfrey
    Mark Palfrey
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    I am planning to do just that! The PBI connecter is limited to what you can report on but you can enrich this by exporting the extra data needed from RE DB View using RE Queue. I have setup a test but unfortunately at the moment my RE Queue seems to be affected by an issue that Blackbaud are looking at so currently I am unable to run the Queue automatically. I am hoping this gets resolved soon and I can give this a proper test! I can let you know how it goes.

  • Nate Laning
    Nate Laning
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    I'd love to hear how that goes, Mark. We have Queue, and I'm beginning to suspect that I'll run into a need for it very soon. Once you get yours working, I'd love to learn more about what process you use. I'm particularly curious about where you store your completed export files for PBI to pick up. We use Box for file storage, and I haven't researched that compatibility too much yet. Good luck!

  • Mark Palfrey
    Mark Palfrey
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1
    No problem at all. The plan is to export the data from RE Queue to Blackbaud SFTP which everyone has access to if you are hosted by them. I will then use Microsoft Power Automate to pick up the file from the SFTP and drop it into our SharePoint. From there you can get PowerBi to pull data in from SharePoint. That's the theory anyway! There is a very good video on how to do the whole Power Automate bit from the last BBCON by a lady called Christine Gomez and the session she did is called Using the Microsoft Power Platform with Raiser's Edge: Low- and No-Code Options! Not sure if you can get access to it now post event.

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